Gender: Male
Age: 17
Grade: 11
Hobbies and Interests: Yoga, Guided Meditation, YouTube
Gift: Mood Ring
Power Details: Jacob’s skin and iris colours change involuntarily depending on the emotions he is experiencing, e.g. RAL 3026 (Red) when angry, RAL 5011 (Dark Blue) when sad, RAL 7034 (Beige-Grey) when bored,
or RAL 9016 (White) when scared. A full list has yet to be compiled, but it seems that the colours expressed are tied to traditional western cultural colour associations. The change between colours happens slowly, with it developing spotchily in seemingly random locations, before fully transitioning to the new prominent colour in around 5-10 minutes. The intensity of the colouration varies depending on the intensity of the emotion, ranging from looking like a faded tattoo at its least intense, to looking like vivid bodypaint at its most intense.
Limitations and Drawbacks: Mood Ring makes it impossible for Jacob to hide his emotional state, with everything from disappointment to sexual excitement being communicated openly by his Gift. In addition to this, the stark colourations make it difficult for Jacob to be visually unnoticable to others.
Appearance: Jacob is extremely tall, standing at 6’3”, but weighs just 137 pounds. This gives him a tall, gangly look, accentuated by having an extremely large wingspan that leaves his hands resting lower on his thighs than the average person. This makes him easy to spot, even amongst those with similar visually obvious gifts. He is of Caucasian descent, although his facial features are relatively muted, with a shallow chin and an elongated midface. His hair is jet black, and cut into a shaggy bob that stops at around chin length, and whilst he has begun to be able to grow some facial hair, he keeps himself clean shaven. His skin and iris colour are normally controlled by his Gift, however when sleeping he exhibits a default state which is visually similar to albinism, with ashen blonde hair, extremely pale white skin, and colourless irises which appear pink in direct light. His wardrobe is relatively informal and bland, preferring simple block colours and cuts of clothing. On the day of his abduction he was wearing wearing a white t-shirt with no logo, and a charcoal grey zip up hoodie, as well as stonewashed blue jeans and black sneakers.
Background:
- Jacob was born in Bend, Oregon as the first child of 3 between the still unmarried, but happily cohabitating couple of Terrance Rowe and River Kershaw.
- His siblings are a pair of sisters, Kaara [13] and Valerie [9].
- Terrance and River co-own Terry & River's Cider, a craft hard cider brewing company which has achieved moderate local success. Whilst their exact living standards have fluctuated, they have have kept at around a middle class living for most of Jacob's life.
- Jacob’s gift was visible early on in his life, with it communicating his emotions even before he began speaking. This lead to him requiring tutoring from a speech therapist when he was a toddler, as he did not follow the same developmental pathway as most children do of communicating their needs to parents, which left him nonverbal until the age of 3. This also stunted his social development when he entered the schooling system, struggling to keep up with his more verbally developed peers, and standing apart from them due to his appearance. Whilst he was never directly bullied, he felt excluded, and would often choose to spend his time with others whose Gift had left them unable to communicate normally during play.
- Jacob retains a close connection to his family, despite his early communication issues. He is both grateful for their help in overcoming it, and also feels comfortable in using his Gift as part of his body language rather than something he has to hide around them.
- During puberty, Jacob quickly realised that he was attracted to other men as well as women. Whilst it was not immediately apparent, the subject of his first gay crush was able to discern what the colour of his Gift meant, and publicly rejected him before it was even possible for Jacob to express himself voluntarily. This experience was emotionally devastating for Jacob, and he has struggled with romantic relationships as a result, having never dated through his time in high school.
- As Jacob grew older, he began to work towards controlling his Gift via controlling his emotional state through various different means, and experimenting with religion, marijuana, and a host of other remedies. Eventually he would find success in yoga, and the meditation that forms an important part of the process during his mid-teens. This would lead into it becoming a key part of his daily routine, and something he finds deeply enjoyable.
- Jacob has recently begun producing his own content on YouTube where he provides narration for people to take part in their own guided meditations. He has had very little success in attracting a large audience from this, but enjoys it, and uses interacting with his small number of subscribers online as a social outlet.
- Jacob is still relatively introverted, attending few social events outside of school and preferring to arrange things amongst close friends when he does.
- Jacob’s academic record is sub-par to average, with him struggling to engage with classroom learning and his parents not encouraging his studies beyond simple platitudes.
- Jacob has no solid plans after graduating high school, but he has begun having conversations with his parents about becoming involved with their cider making.
Other Skills: Physical fitness